8?

Despite the conflicts raging at the border, the first town in Loma that Jackson came across didn’t seem to be showing any signs of turmoil. Though, thinking about it, it wasn’t that much different from the way things were back home. The fighting was somewhere else, so people here simply went about their usual lives.

The streets were packed tight with vendors selling fruit, colorful fabrics, accessories, and grilled meats. Compared to the sparsely populated, single road through the site Jackson’s clan had settled down in, it was actually rather overwhelming.

His attempts to stop anyone to ask for directions proved fruitless, so he moved through the alleys in search of a less crowded part of town. The sparse gaps between the buildings were narrow and winding, but at least that meant there wasn’t enough room for more market stalls.

Jackson took the chance to recollect his thoughts. In a country far from home, in a city far from home, where everything was so different. He wondered whether there was any hope of finding what he was looking for, but… he had to start somewhere.

It was either that, or stay at home sitting on a guard tower until the curse got so bad that he’d be thrown out and forced to live like a feral animal, cutting down every living thing in sight.

At last he arrived at a less busy street where people weren’t in such a rush, then asked a passerby for directions to a library, or anywhere he could find information about... magical phenomenon. He took care not to mention anything about dark curses.

* * *

In the end, it took days before any real leads could be found. Without any money, basic necessities were hard to come by, slowing the search considerably. However, find a lead he did, although it wasn’t a strong one.

The black light that reflected on the blade’s edge when it was used, the hunger for death… this specific sort of dark magic was, as it turns out, a very uncommon type. Though dark mages had a bad reputation, their's was not an inherently evil branch of magic.

Rather than harnessing an element of its own, dark magic simply distorted existing elements. Black flames that burned cold, unmelting and unrelentingly durable red ice, bolts of dark lightning that struck directly into the victim’s mind…

But a black light could only be one thing: an inversion of healing magic. The only ones who specialized in this were the followers of a hidden branch of the Spiral Church.

If Jackson found them, he would probably find answers, but that was easier said than done. Unsurprisingly, none of the free, publicly available libraries had any records on any of their facilities. The primary branch of the Church had locations all over the world, and the hidden branch was the same way… That’s the most he could find.

Little did he know, he would be finding what he sought much sooner than expected.

* * *

As Jackson was once again taking a back alley to stay clear of the masses of people and their cacophony, he saw figures marching down an abandoned road. They appeared to be soldiers, trickling along in small groups. Trying to avoid attention, perhaps?

But the strangest thing about these soldiers was that they didn’t wear only one type of uniform. Some wore the robes of Loma pyromancers, while others wore the armor and blue decorations used by... members of the Spira Alliance? Jackson had only seen their emblem once at the base where he had left Sami and Fiona, but he recognized it.

Furthermore, all their faces were covered with heavy scarves and hoods. It was a marvel they could even see like that, let alone fight. What was going on? Why were they marching together?

The direction they were marching to… obviously the battlefield at the frontline. There wasn’t much else they could be doing in full gear like that. Now, where they were marching from, that might be more likely to provide some answers, assuming that would be possible to find.

This wasn’t actually any of Jackson’s business, and it might not have anything to do with his own personal quest, but even so, he had a strange feeling in his gut compelling him to check it out.

* * *

The surreal trail of mismatched soldiers was longer than expected. It was difficult to figure out a path through the alleys without being spotted, but somehow Jackson never got lost along the way. Even when the human stream ran nearly completely dry, his instincts led him forward.

Eventually, he found the source, but looking at the building gave him chills. It was a worn down cathedral building in a clearly long-abandoned part of town. Any icons carved into the stonework that could have once been used to identify the faith of this church had been smashed or gouged out of the walls, and nothing was visible through any of the shaded windows.

Jackson seriously wished there was a more discreet way of entering the building than through the front door, but there wasn’t, and he had to go in. If there was anything dangerous in there, he had no choice but to rely on the curse’s power once more.

There were two things Jackson noticed immediately upon entering: one was the large object on the dais at the back wall. It was a large, circular plate, held upright, made up of two intertwined spirals that met up at the center. One was made of silver, the other was a brown metal, possibly bronze. The other thing Jackson noticed was… something at the foot of that icon.

From where he stood, it almost looked like a mound of black tar. The raised center was about the height and size as a crouching human, and the rest of it oozed out from the middle.

It didn’t react right away, but after a few seconds it moved. Part of the mound lifted up from the rest and twisted around, revealing a pale, human face on the other side, the blackness trailing down from the top of its head. Its eyes and mouth both shined with a black light, exactly the same as Jackson’s blade.

Jackson’s blade… Suddenly, with a terrible sinking feeling in his stomach, the curse responded to whoever or whatever was before him. Against his own will, his hands drew the sword, held it straight towards the figure, and started to approach it.

* * *

Despite the magic seal in effect, Mari continued moving forward, Lea matching her stride step-for-step. Matthew hadn’t expected this, but drew his twin daggers regardless. Trying to strike with his own magic was apparently useless, and against the speed of that sword he probably wouldn’t have much luck at close-range either. “Guys, a little help here?” he called out to the other two bandits.

“We’re a little busy, as you can see,” Patrick called back, lazily deflecting another one of Fiona’s claw strikes.

“As if! Take care of that kitten already, two against one is too much for me here!”

Fiona was already frustrated by the man keeping her away from Sami, and toying with her as if the weeks she’d spent training meant nothing… and perhaps, in the grand scheme of things, they didn’t, but being called a “kitten” with a tone like that was the last straw.

It was too painfully close to the words of the villagers in Prola who did nothing to try to save her sister on that rainy day.

But… there was no way to channel that frustration. No matter how angrily she swung her weapons, she was no more likely to get through than before. Sami dealt with a similar issue, lost in her vengefulness, bruised and battered by Sadie’s unrelenting kicks.

Suddenly, their eyes met among the struggle. Fiona’s desperate green against Sami’s furious purple… and the young Lady of the Locke family snapped out of her uncontrollable fury.

Promptly ducking under a heavy blow from Sadie that might have finally knocked her out cold, she stayed low to the ground and dashed to the side, to where Patrick was playing with his victim. Sadie herself had grown relaxed with confidence, and wasn’t able to react in time to catch Sami’s swift escape.

With a wide, flashing arc, her familiar grace restored, Sami’s rapier cleanly knocked the dark-haired bandit off balance from behind with a strike across the back of his knees. As he fell to the ground, she rose, following up her first strike with several more to the rest of his body, light twirling and dancing off her blade.

The tide of battle had turned in seconds. The stubborn Sadie only cared about resuming her duel with Sami, so Matthew was left without backup as Mari and Lea approached.

Try as he might with his quick-thinking and skill with his daggers, he couldn’t stop or avoid the full weight of Mari’s mace-staff and Lea’s intensely speedy swordplay at the same time. Sadie was now the only member of the trio left standing.

Suddenly, a blast rocked the front wall of the old tavern, and a portion of the roof was blown off by the force. With the interior of the building now exposed to the world outside, sounds of faroff chaos from somewhere else in the town finally leaked inside. All five remaining members of the scuffle stopped in shock as blue flames rapidly spread from the site of the blast’s impact.

A group of hooded figures entered through the front door as if unaware, or uncaring, of the burning front wall and the collapsing roof—Loma soldiers.

“Of course they would have backup…!” spat Sami, more angry with herself for not approaching more carefully than anything.

“No, we… I’m pretty sure they’re not with us,” Sadie said slowly.

It seemed she was just as shocked and unnerved as the rest of them.

A line of Loma pyromancers had arranged themselves next to the front door, and all raised their arms simultaneously. Blue fireballs flew in every direction, hitting the walls, floor, ceiling…

Sami dived into Fiona, bringing her down to the ground and out of the way of a deadly flame. Lea moved like the wind, cutting fireballs apart as if slicing through physical matter, but there was only so much she could do to thin their numbers before the ones she couldn’t reach burst against every other corner of the room.

Nobody had been directly hit by this first wave of attacks, but if they didn’t get out of the burning, crumbling building soon, it wouldn’t matter either way. Sami and Fiona quickly jumped to their feet and made a rush for the door, weapons held at the ready to take down any of the pyromancers in their way.

One of the figures turned to face them directly. Its face was entirely covered, and they both felt a dreadful chill. It raised its arms again as if to call forth another barrage of fire, but it didn’t come.

Instead, a charred beam was pulled down from the ceiling, barely missing Fiona and knocking Sami to the floor, pinning her under its weight.

* * *

Jackson was now standing directly in front of the thing in the church, cursed sword pointing directly towards where its heart might be. He struggled to move, but couldn’t. His legs were tied down by what he could now recognize as impossibly long, pitch-black hair.

Up close, he unwillingly got a better look at the thing’s features. It appeared to be a woman in what was once a white cleric’s robe, but which was now stained through with dark blotches. The skin on her face was pure white, a stark contrast against her flowing black locks.

Despite the fact that a sword was pointed towards her chest, her face twisted into a smile. She started to speak, in a voice that was surprisingly, and disturbingly, rather ordinary. “Ahh, my child, you’ve brought her back to me,” she cooed.

An arm emerged from the black mass and reached over to stroke the sharp edge of the blade, but she didn’t bleed. “It’s been so many years, but you’re finally here, just as the lines of your Fate foretold. Now, I won't kill you, but I will ask you to leave. I have all I needed from you now,” she continued to the still-immobile Jackson.

Jackson tried to retort in some way, but he couldn’t even move his lips. Tendrils of the woman’s hair reached up and grabbed on to the sword. Suddenly, he felt a painful, wrenching feeling deep in his gut. It was as if the hunger that was brought about by the curse was being ripped out of him physically, and it was all he could do to stay conscious.

Suddenly released, he stumbled backwards and fell on his behind. “Shoo,” the woman spoke to him again, now holding the sword in her arms as if it was a baby, “I have work to get back to, and much catching up to do with my ‘daughter.’”

All the strength the curse had given him throughout the better part of his life was suddenly gone, and he could only pull himself to his feet and stumble towards the door. Over his shoulder, he saw the woman calling forth more of those faceless figures, mimicries of both Spira and Loma soldiers alike.

* * *

Sami had never been in this much pain. Not from the blows she took during the fight with the Hydro, and certainly not from any of her duels or swordplay practice sessions back home… but somehow, it felt terrifyingly familiar. No matter how she tried to struggle, it only hurt worse, so she could only lie still and gasp for air.

Mari’s healing magic was still sealed, she wouldn’t be able to save her this time. Fiona was crying as she did everything she could to lift the beam with her slim arms. She was yelling something, but Sami couldn’t hear it over the cries of pain in her head.

Mari herself desperately tried to get close enough to do something, anything, but while under fire from the “soldiers” there wasn’t much she or Lea could do to move from their position.

Sadie had already disappeared, perhaps she had somehow escaped or perhaps she was crushed under debris elsewhere.

As if already satisfied with their results, all the “soldiers” turned and left the building. Mari and Lea rushed over to help Fiona with moving the debris, but neither of them had the physical strength to make much of a difference. The heat was growing intense, and the building wasn’t going to hold up for much longer.

Mari stopped struggling as the glowing, circular magic-sealing inscription around her finally blinked out of existence. Her voice calm but trembling, she told the other two to leave to safety. Fiona could only shake her head fiercely and tearfully.

She could use her magic again, but without expending enough healing magic first she wouldn’t be able to draw forth the power that she had used to crush the Hydro. As arbitrary as it seemed, that was the unbreakable rule that bound her full potential… but there wasn’t enough time to go through the whole process.

With luck, she might be able to work something out… Keeping Sami alive was her duty, both as a priestess of the Spiral Church and as her friend, but there was no sense in all four of them dying for that duty.

Lea seemed strongly reluctant to abandon them as well, but she finally tore herself away. Fiona struggled as Lea grabbed her, lifting the smaller woman bodily over her shoulder and making for the exit before it began to collapse.

Fiona could only reach helplessly towards the woman she loved, and Mari, as the two disappeared from sight in the burning building.